1. Strategic planning: Define the roles, capabilities, and talent required to complete the organization’s strategy today and in the future.

2. Assessing talent: Look at the strength-in-depth available in the company’s executive staff. Find out if you have who you need now and in the future. If you don’t have the required talent right now, you need to develop a strategy to get to that stage.

3. Recruitment: Create a talent pipeline for important roles or jobs within the organization.

4. Assessing performance: Let talented employees know their contributions are valued by the company, and ensure there are ample opportunities for development available to them, as well as the chance to network across divisions and speak with executives.

5. Create a development plan: Individuals should have access to development plans, such as leadership workshops, on-the-job training, and special projects.

6. Employee retention and engagement: In order to keep the most talented team members on board, you need to have a system of rewards in place, recognize their contributions, ensure job autonomy, and emphasize the fact that there are many opportunities for personal growth and career development.

Of course, to put your succession plan into practice, it will be necessary to overcome a number of challenges. For example, you will need to determine how to identify and assess succession candidates, find the right components for a successful development plan, and implement the correct procedures for accurate work performance.

In order to complete all of the above steps, you will need the assistance of a seasoned corporate tax team, such as the one at Singer Tax & Accounting, PC in Phoenix. Although creating a succession plan to find the cream of the crop can be a difficult process, companies that follow through are rewarded with a string of high-quality C-suite candidates that greatly heighten the odds of long-term success for the organization.